DENIS SMITH believes he could have found the answer to his injury headache up front.

Former French under-18 starlet Armand One joined the Dragons squad on a week's trial yesterday.

The Racecourse boss has been trawling for talent which fits within Wrexham's budget over the past week as Chris Armstrong's Achilles problem shows no signs of a quick recovery.

One, 20, arrived from France yesterday and with international clearance coming through for the youngster yesterday afternoon he will be thrown into action for the Reserves against Rochdale at the Racecourse tonight.

Smith said: "Having seen him this morning, he is far better than I expected and I would think that if we give him time he could become a very good player.

"Since we found out Chris' injury might be going to take longer than a week to recover we have missed the option of a big striker in the box, so I had to go out and find what every manager wants.

"I know One can play from having seen him at Cambridge when he was an 18-year-old. Now what we need to do is get to know him, find out why he's available and see what went wrong when he was last over here in the UK.

"At one point there were clubs like Middlesbrough supposed to be offering million pound deals to Cambridge United and perhaps knowing that caused him some problems."

Paris-born One will be eager to impress after dropping off the footballing map following his initially successful spell in England.

A switch from Nantes to Cambridge in September 2001 saw him strike five goals in the club's run to the final of the LDV Vans trophy.

But he fell out of favour with boss John Taylor and was farmed out on loan to Northampton and Bristol Rovers.

When those spells ended, he headed back to France as Cambridge cancelled his contract and has not secured a deal in his native country.

But Smith is eager for the 6ft 4in striker to be given another chance.

"He might be a bit short of match fitness at the minute but he has been playing at some level in France and he looks pretty good.

"Everybody's been talking about what happened when he was here before. But he was only 18 and because he's so big everybody expects him to have behaved like a grown up. But you try moving to a foreign country where they speak a different language and work away from your family at 18."

While one of the injured strikeforce, Lee Jones, will take his place in the Reserves tonight alongside Steve Roberts and Jim Whitley, Armstrong is only due to begin training again this week with his Achilles problem.

Smith added: "Chris wanted to get out running yesterday but I told him no. He's not ready to yet, but he'll be running by the end of the week."

Meanwhile, Wrexham managing director David Rhodes confirmed that if One impresses this week, the club does have the budget to bring him to the Racecourse.

"If we both get along and he fits within the budget then basically there's a good chance he will join us," he said.